Patience
by Flywheel Shyster and Flywheel
Summary: Marie remembers the summers, back before choices were made, when Double-D was still running from her.


I'm thinking about a hot day in July; about three to four years ago or something. I remember, the only fan we had was working overtime and we were slumped together in front of the tube, watching some shitty B-movie from the 50s'. That's how we spent most of our summers; watching TV, doing chores or bugging the Cul-de-Sac kids. The first followed the second and the third usually came soon thereafter.

"What the heck is up with the TV?!" I can't say I was sad when the gorilla in a diver's helmet turned to static. Lee and May instantly turned hysterical however.

"It was just getting exciting!"

"Calm down, it's probably just a bird on the antenna or something."

"Well, fix it!" When would Lee wake up and realize that I wasn't her damn slave?

"Do it yourself!"

"I wasn't asking!" She grabbed me by the neck and pants and threw me out the door, taking the thing with me.

"God fucking damn it..." I knew I was gonna have to fix the door too; those two weren't handy for two fucking cents. I'm not tooting my own horn and saying I'm some sort of general wiz at fixing shit (like Double-D, he can really do anything with anything and out of anything) but I knew my way around most things mechanical.

* * *

Back when we still lived in the Midwest, before Peach Creek, Mom used to leave us with our next trailer neighbors whenever she'd go to work. I still remember them; Ian and Barbara Fitzgerald, a childless old couple who left that trailer park a year before we did. I loved those days; Barb would be in the kitchen, making lunch and/or cookies while Ian would be out in the yard, repairing their old Dodge, a reminder of their 70s' romance. As soon as Mom dropped us off, May and Lee would run to the TV to watch cartoons while I joined old Ian outside.

"Marie, wouldn't ya rather be in watching TV than watch an old man try to get this ol' museum piece going?" He would say while wiping his hands on a rag that was always so dirty, he didn't get much cleaner doing it.

"Nah, I like cars, Mr. Fitz!" The fact was, I did. There was, still is, something about cars that just get me going; when you start them and they roar to life, so many components, so many details must work together to do it. And the pleasure of fixing something like that? Fucking priceless.

"Are you helping Ian, Marie?" Barb was mighty surprised the first time she saw me leaned in under the hood and Ian sitting in a lawn chair, reading the paper while smoking.

"She sure is; doing a better job too!"

"Good; maybe you'll finally be able to live up to that promise of yours!" She pointed the wooden spoon in her hand towards him in a threatening way before heading back inside.

"I told her when we grew old; we'd see the States together! We will, of course, I just gotta fix up this ol' bag of bolts and rust." He motioned to the car with the cigarette. "I have to get her up and a running soon; we sure aren't getting any younger."

"I wish I can travel the States with the love of my life when I grow old, Mr. Fitz."

"Heh, by the time you grow old, you won't trailers or cars; you can just teleport wherever!" He laughed whole heartedly and I couldn't help but join him.

"Even if that's true, Mr. Fitz, nothing beats the open road; I'd still drag his ass around in a car wherever we'd go."

"Why, Marie! Where did an eight year old learn such a bad word?!"

"Why, last week when you were ranting about how much of an ass Mr. Foreman is."

"Damn right Foreman's an ass! Don't you forget it!" My life before Peach Creek. It wasn't much, but it was home.

* * *

"HEY, MARIE! THAT BETTER BE ANTENNA THINKING YOU'RE DOING OUT THERE!" That's the problem living in a damn trailer with your two sisters; there's no fucking alone time. You couldn't even think back in your life for a second without getting bothered.

"SHIT'S MELTED!" I wasn't kidding; thing wasn't even antenna shaped anymore, it was a fucking puddle running down the wall.

"WHAT?!"

"I SAID: SHIT'S MELTED!"

"YOU BETTER NOT BE-"

"JUST GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" Yeah, you might've guessed it; there's an age difference between us sisters. The middle child, your humble narrator, is ten months younger than Lee and ten months older than May. Doesn't do shit that at least Lee and I are born in the same year; I could be ten years younger and she'd treat me the same way.

"I'll be darned; shit's melted." She stalked out the door frame to deliver that brilliant deduction.

"How will we ever see the end of the movie now?" Of course, May followed suit.

"What about heading down to the Creek?" I knew they'd take the bait; most often or not, the Creek was where we found the Eds working on scams.

"Maybe the Eds are there again!" Bingo; May was in. Of course, if Lee wasn't, May sure as hell wouldn't wanna-

"Girls, we're going to the Creek!" Too easy.

* * *

I had, what you call them... Ulterior motives, that's it, for going to the Creek. Yeah, your guess is not off; May and Lee sure were going to chase after Ed and Eddy. I on the other hand... It's a shitlong story so I'll try to give you the short version.

I never got why I liked Double-D. It wasn't that there was something wrong with him; we were just always so fucking different. Trailer park daughter, doctor's son. Filthy mechanic, clean inventor. School of hard knocks, school of everything readable. Grizzled Goth chick, shielded Bach boy. And so on. So it never hit me that maybe, we were completely wrong for each other. Or, I for him. In my eyes, he was nothing less than fucking perfect.

Then there was one day; one afternoon about a year before that July day. We chased the Eds into Eddy's house and completely trashed the place looking for them, flipping over furniture, knocking shit of the shelves. After an hour or so, we gave up; Lee and May headed back to the trailer while I just walked straight into the forest area.

I cried. I have no fucking clue why but I sat my ass down on a rock and cried for what felt like an eternity. I just... Cried. Over everything; mom, dad, the fucking trailer I was forced to live in and of course, Double-D. And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why he didn't like me. Which led to a good while of self hatred; how ugly I was, how I wasn't a 'girly girl' like Nazz, Sarah or Jimmy and how I wished that my life could be somewhat normal, just for once.

Then, someone walked by. A boy. He talked to me. Asked questions about me. He didn't care that I was sitting all by myself on a rock crying; he actually thought it was 'a good thing that I allowed myself to show such emotions'. I asked him questions, he answered them. Told me how I remembered him about this girl he liked back where he came from.

We talked and talked, for hours. And... It helped. For the first time in my life, somebody got past the rough exterior and saw me for me. For everything I was. I had a friend. And he taught me patience.

"-We'll be swimming in moolah!"

"Oh my... Ed-dy..."

"What?"

"We have visitors."

"What are you yapping ab-"Pause. "KANKERS!"

"RUN AWAY!"

"HIGH TAIL, GENTLEMEN; STRAIGHT TO THE LAB!" We found the Eds, down by the Creek, building something that looked like a mutated ginger bread house and a giant grasshopper. Of course, they ran for their lives like frightened animals the moment they saw us.

"Come back, Love Muffin!"

"Kiss me, Gravy Guy!" Lee and May kicked into gear at the same time, chasing after them like always. Same old, same old.

Except I didn't join them.

I wanted to; it had always been fun. It was nothing more than a childish game to us; to show the Eds that we liked them. Like the text book example of a boy pushing a girl on the playground or pulling her pigtails. But, as my friend made me realize, the Eds sure as hell didn't see it that way. We were tormentors, bullies, doing it just to mess with them. And in a way, we really were just that; bullies.

I sighed and took a seat next to the Creek a safe distance from whatever it was the Eds had started to build; they weren't exactly known for their sturdy constructions.

My strategy was simple; show Double-D that I was more than the crazy, loud girl who bothered him at any and all time. But it wasn't easy. I had made sure of that. A whole year had gone without me chasing him but he was still running. Not from Lee or May; they never jumped him after they noticed I stopped showing interest in the game. He was still running from me. He hadn't noticed that there was nothing, no one, chasing him anymore. Too terrified to do so, I guess.

So many times had I thought about just writing a note or something similar; hell, I even wrote one. I went as far as opening his mail box to put it there. But I couldn't.

He wasn't the only one who was terrified. I was too. Terrified that he'd shoot me down. Laugh me in the face. Actually say that he didn't want to be with me. That would make it too real, that would end the dream. The dream that he would forgive me for everything I'd done to him.

I picked up a small rock and threw it into the water. Followed by another. And another. And another. As I watched how the surface was overcome with rings, I realized that in a way, Double-D was the Creek and I was the rocks. I'd had the exact effect on him, except for rings on water, it was ball gripping fear. Even after a year since the last rock had been thrown into the water, the rings were still there. They would be, for a hell of a long time; my friend made me understand and accept that. But no matter how long, I was prepared to wait for the day Double-D would see the real me.

_"I'm not saying it's going to be easy. No, quite the opposite; it's gonna be hell upon Earth. But I know that you can do this. I've barely known you for an afternoon but I can already tell that you can be so much more than this Peach Creek life. You can know so much more, you can see so much more. Only if you allow yourself to."_

_"But... What about-"_

_"If it's meant to happen, it will happen. Not today, not tomorrow, but it will happen. And if it will, then it will be worth it. Not easy- But more than worth it. Would you be ready to wait for that; months, maybe years?"_

_"I would do anything to be with him."_

_"Then you have to be patient, Marie. That is all."_

My name is Marie Kanker. My choice was to be patient.


End file.
